Anthony Tolliver Reaches Two-Year, $6M Deal With Suns

[RealGM Wiretap]

Free agent Anthony Tolliver has reached agreement on a two-year, $6 million contract with the Phoenix Suns, league sources told RealGM.

His agent, Larry Fox, confirmed the deal on Tuesday night.

On the first day of free agency, every NBA general manager received a hard copy 20-page presentation highlighting Tolliver as the 15th best three-point shooter in the league, his 48.2 percent three-point percentage in the fourth quarter and his strong plus-minus ratios in his career. Tolliver and Fox scoured the free agent market for the best opportunity to play his most effective position as a stretch power forward and 13 teams expressed interest throughout the process.

In Phoenix, Tolliver helps fill the void left by the departure of Channing Frye and gives the Suns a positive veteran leader, proven shooter and member of the executive committee in the NBA players union. Tolliver averaged 6.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 41.3 percent from three-point range last season for the Charlotte Hornets.

“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Tolliver said by phone. “I went into this free agency and it worked out perfectly when Phoenix contacted my agent. With a great nucleus of young players, and the respect I have for Ryan [McDonough], Jeff Hornacek and the entire organization, it’s a perfect situation. For me, I want to go in there and help any way I can.

“The Suns are an up tempo team, and when I was with Golden State I had a similar style. I’m able to produce at a high level and this style compares to that Golden State team. I can play the three as well, but my natural position is four, rebounding, hitting open shots. The Suns made it clear I’m coming to play the four. Phoenix is a great city, a great family city.”

Tolliver, 29, has averaged 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in his six NBA seasons. He carved a shooting role as a stretch-four, but he’s played a majority of his minutes at small forward over the past few seasons. As a power forward, Tolliver had a 34-point performance and a 21-rebound game late in the 2011 season with the Golden State Warriors.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Washington Wizards were in detailed discussions with Tolliver before his agreement with the Suns.

Via Shams Charania/RealGM

[watpho71]

This might eat into T.J. Warren's playing time. Nonetheless, good addition. Can play the stretch 4 and run the floor. There were a few teams interested in him, so PHO win. TEMPO is on high in PHO, should be fun.


When you get a 2am posting, looks like you get lots of ink.

[Revived]

This might eat into T.J. Warren's playing time. Nonetheless, good addition. Can play the stretch 4 and run the floor. There were a few teams interested in him, so PHO win. TEMPO is on high in PHO, should be fun.


When you get a 2am posting, looks like you get lots of ink.

TJ Warren is a SF this will in no shape or form affect his playing time.

Chances are that Tolliver will just be a bench warmer barring injuries. Unless he beats out Marcus Morris for the backup PF spot.

[Winsome Gerbil]

Of course they would. He's not an actual big either.

Its cute what they did last year. I thought Hornacek should have been COY. But that poor franchise has never seemed to figure out that there is a cap on how far you can go constantly playing small.

[Bentley1225]

Interesting 4th quarter stats on him and much better deal than Frye leveraged with Orlando.

[carey]

Of course they would. He's not an actual big either.

Its cute what they did last year. I thought Hornacek should have been COY. But that poor franchise has never seemed to figure out that there is a cap on how far you can go constantly playing small.

Maybe you should tell SA that? They beat the heat by going small and spreading them out. 6' 7'' Diaw as a PF and Duncan as the C.

[loserX]

Of course they would. He's not an actual big either.

Its cute what they did last year. I thought Hornacek should have been COY. But that poor franchise has never seemed to figure out that there is a cap on how far you can go constantly playing small.

Maybe you should tell SA that? They beat the heat by going small and spreading them out. 6' 7'' Diaw as a PF and Duncan as the C.

To be fair it's a lot easier to go small when Tim Duncan is your C. The Suns don't exactly have that option.

[UGotThrilled]

Of course they would. He's not an actual big either.

Its cute what they did last year. I thought Hornacek should have been COY. But that poor franchise has never seemed to figure out that there is a cap on how far you can go constantly playing small.

Maybe you should tell SA that? They beat the heat by going small and spreading them out. 6' 7'' Diaw as a PF and Duncan as the C.

To be fair it's a lot easier to go small when Tim Duncan is your C. The Suns don't exactly have that option.

To be fair, they also don't have the option to go big with Tim Duncan. If your point is that teams tend to do better when Tim Duncan plays on them, the point is well taken, and you won't get any argument from me.

If your point is that you can only go small when Tim Duncan is playing... Well there just isn't much evidence for that. Miami has had a lot of success going small, OKC becomes dominant when going small. Other examples of effective small ball on non-championship contenders includes Atlanta taking the Pacers to 7 games by playing small ball, and Houston playing Terrence Jones/Chandler Parsons as a 4, and Brooklyn improving dramatically by playing small ball with Pierce as the 4.

So, yea, small ball can work, and it works better when you have Tim Duncan. Just like playing big works better when you have Tim Duncan.

[DrClutch]

Why??? did they go out & sign this bum?!!! They have a couple decents players on the Summer league team Warren, Goodwin, Seth, Christmas..no need to waste cash unless he is a trade piece....

[loserX]

Maybe you should tell SA that? They beat the heat by going small and spreading them out. 6' 7'' Diaw as a PF and Duncan as the C.

To be fair it's a lot easier to go small when Tim Duncan is your C. The Suns don't exactly have that option.

To be fair, they also don't have the option to go big with Tim Duncan. If your point is that teams tend to do better when Tim Duncan plays on them, the point is well taken, and you won't get any argument from me.

If your point is that you can only go small when Tim Duncan is playing... Well there just isn't much evidence for that. Miami has had a lot of success going small, OKC becomes dominant when going small. Other examples of effective small ball on non-championship contenders includes Atlanta taking the Pacers to 7 games by playing small ball, and Houston playing Terrence Jones/Chandler Parsons as a 4, and Brooklyn improving dramatically by playing small ball with Pierce as the 4.

So, yea, small ball can work, and it works better when you have Tim Duncan. Just like playing big works better when you have Tim Duncan.

Right, and Miami has LeBron and OKC has Durant and Phoenix doesn't have any of those players either.

So if you want to say "there's a cap on how far you can get constantly playing small...unless you have a transcendent HOF-calibre player in the league on your team" is more accurate wording, I'd agree with that. Phoenix does not have the personnel to go deep into the playoffs with their size as limited as it is.

[UGotThrilled]

To be fair it's a lot easier to go small when Tim Duncan is your C. The Suns don't exactly have that option.

To be fair, they also don't have the option to go big with Tim Duncan. If your point is that teams tend to do better when Tim Duncan plays on them, the point is well taken, and you won't get any argument from me.

If your point is that you can only go small when Tim Duncan is playing... Well there just isn't much evidence for that. Miami has had a lot of success going small, OKC becomes dominant when going small. Other examples of effective small ball on non-championship contenders includes Atlanta taking the Pacers to 7 games by playing small ball, and Houston playing Terrence Jones/Chandler Parsons as a 4, and Brooklyn improving dramatically by playing small ball with Pierce as the 4.

So, yea, small ball can work, and it works better when you have Tim Duncan. Just like playing big works better when you have Tim Duncan.

Right, and Miami has LeBron and OKC has Durant and Phoenix doesn't have any of those players either.

So if you want to say "there's a cap on how far you can get constantly playing small...unless you have a transcendent HOF-calibre player in the league on your team" is more accurate wording, I'd agree with that. Phoenix does not have the personnel to go deep into the playoffs with their size as limited as it is.

I would say that the bolded statement is true. I just think it is also true for teams that play traditional big man lineups. Which stems from the unsurprising fact that if you have transcendent players on your team, it is easier to be successful, regardless of whether you play small or big.

[loserX]

And my feeling is, if you're going to be as bad at playing "traditional lineups" as Phoenix is, you had better be elite at your small-ball lineup. And I'm not sure they are. So they would be better served by improving their size so that when "tall-ball" is called for, which it will be because their small-ball isn't elite either, they don't get crushed at it.

[Sonny Carson]

Probably the most comfortable Tolliver has felt since Beasley rubbed his knee.

[Golden Angel]

Might as well cancel the season, Suns win.

[juduking]

Was hoping the Pistons could of signed him. He had the highest Plus, Minus of all Bobcat bench players last season. Good signing by the Suns to fill Frye void